Arrested SFI leader chained to his hospital bed

In an act of extreme inhumanity, the police kept an arrested local leader of the Student Federation of India (SFI), the CPI(M)’s student wing, chained to his hospital bed at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri where he was admitted two days back.

Santosh Sahani, a First Year student of Siliguri’s Surya Sen College and an SFI general-secretary, was among the 51 people arrested by the police on April 10 from outside the CPM party office after a clash broke between the Trinamool Congress cadres and CPI(M) supporters.

He was sent to the medical college on Monday after he complained of illness and was kept chained to the hospital bed for two days.

On Tuesday, the chains were taken off after a local television channel showed his plight. Following this, CPI(M) leader and former minister Asok Bhattacharya visited the hospital to register a protest.

Santosh, son of a vegetable vendor, had taken ill when he was produced in court. But the police took him to jail, but had him hospitalised after his condition deteriorated.